Islamabad: The Senate adopted three resolutions and witnessed the introduction of two private members’ bills on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet. Following are key observations of the proceedings during sixth sitting of Senate’s 258th session.
The Senate met for three hours and 57 minutes. The sitting started two minutes late against the scheduled time of 1500 hours. The House took prayer break of 19 minutes. The chairman presided over the entire sitting.
The deputy chairman was present, while the prime minister did not attend the sitting. The leader of the house attended the entire sitting. The leader of the opposition was present for an hour and 18 minutes.
Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, MQM, JUI-F, ANP, PML-N, PML-F, PTI and PML attended the sitting. Twenty, 19 percent of the total membership, lawmakers were present at the start and 28 at the end of sitting.
The House witnessed introduction of the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Ehtram e Ramazan (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which were referred to the relevant committees for further deliberations. The House did not grant the leave to introduce the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment of Article 203F).
The members were informed that seven bills – the National Cyber Security Council Bill, 2014; the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2015(Omission of Article 182); the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smokers Health (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment of Article 28); the Islamabad Prohibition of Sheesha Smoking Bill, 2016 and the Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2016 – have been received back from the standing committees and they can make a motion under Rule 100 for further consideration of these bills.
The House adopted three resolutions condemning the statement of Indian prime minister against Pakistan and urging the government to start evening and night shifts at dispensaries in the rural areas of Islamabad and provide interest free loans to farmers for installation of solar tube wells in the country. The House deferred a resolution regarding condemnation of violence against Muslims of Syria and Burma on the request of absent mover.
The House dropped another resolution regarding strict action against the persons involved in manufacturing and sale of substandard LPG cylinders in Islamabad due to mover’s absence. The House adopted an amendment in Rule 182 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012.
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